GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Insurance and taxes: Few beekeepers in- 

 sure tlieii- plant, and in many states they 

 are not taxed; but these items should be 

 estimated, for insurance is good business 

 and taxes may be imposed. 



Labor: The determination of this item 

 was not easy. Labor at ten per cent means 

 one dollar per colony per year. I have been 

 told both that it was too much and too little. 

 It does not mean a dollar just to handle a 

 colony of bees for one season ; but it does 

 mean the amount you must charge against 

 each colony for all the labor connected with 

 handling it, the crop secured from it, and 

 the labor of preparing that crop for sale. 

 That does not have anything to do with the 

 cost of selling it, which is another part alto- 

 gether. We are now considering cost of 

 production only; and getting it into condi- 

 tion for sale is part of that cost. This labor 

 item has been figured for a skilled man at 

 $5.00 per day. The beekeeper should charge 

 for his own labor as much as he could earn 

 in any other line at which he is skilled. If 

 he can earn $10 or $20 a day in some other 

 business, then he must charge his time at 

 the same rate if he goes into the honey 

 business. Naturally the man whose time is 

 so valuable is going to conduct the bee busi- 

 ness on a scale sufficiently large to yield 

 him such a return for his time. Some crit- 

 ics have questioned whether a beekeeper's 

 time is worth $5.00 a day. If his time is 

 not worth that of any of the skilled trades 

 he had better quit the honey business and 

 hire out as a day laborer. But other critics 

 agTee with me that $5.00 is a fair value to 

 use in estimating the cost of honey i^roduc- 

 tion. 



When it comes to an estimate of one 

 dollar to handle a colony of bees, the crop 

 therefrom, and the labor of upkeep, I can 

 only say that the fignire is the result of some 

 careful records and figuring. If you differ, 

 just go over your estimates and figures 

 again before you refuse mine. At the worst, 

 I believe you will be likely to plaxie the cost 

 higher rather than lower. 



Accepting the percentages given, let us 

 see what it costs to produce a pound of 

 honey ; but before I give you figures let me 

 disturb your equilibrium by telling you that 

 counting " sections " as equal to " pounds " 

 of extracted, the cost of producing a crop 

 of comb honey differs \'ery little from pro- 

 ducing one of extracted honey. " If this is 

 treason, make the most of it ! " 



At an operative per-colony cost of 27y2 

 per cent on a capital of $10 we have an 

 expenditure of $2.75. The average per- 

 colony yield from statistics in several states 

 and Canada is given as about 50 pounds. 



That figures as 5^/2 cts. per pound. If this 

 estimate is wrong I believe it errs on the 

 side of being too low rather than too high. 

 Some may saj' they can get along with less 

 capital, but they must have a care that it 

 does not force cost up in some other place. 

 Others may say tliat an increase in the 

 average per-colony production to, say, 100 

 pounds would mean a cost of 2% ets., but 

 it would not. While it would cost less to 

 produce 100 pounds per colony than 50 

 pounds, it would not cost half as much. 

 Don't get fooled there. The figures given 

 are based on average jDroduction. If your 

 average for good years and bad is above 

 this, your per-pound cost will be lower, that 

 is all. First be sure what your average for 

 a series of years really is. 



It will be noticed that I have not esti- 

 m.ated the value of the bees. That was in- 

 tentional. While the fii'st few colonies are 

 usually purchased, the le.t are " grown," 

 the product of " labor." The apiary may 

 be decimated by disease, cold, or starvation, 

 and we restock it by dividing or by swarms 

 —in other words, by " labor." You say an 

 apiary of well-stocked hives is worth more 

 than the same hives without the bees. True, 

 if you are closing out the business; and 

 even so the presence of the bees merely 

 enables you to get more nearly the real 

 value of your hives and fixtures. In most 

 cases the beekeeper raises his own bees, and 

 then surely they cost only labor; and if hs 

 is buying an apiary he seldom pays more 

 than the value of the hives and equipment, 

 if as much, and that little more is very 

 properly chargeable to labor. For the pur-, 

 poses of figuring the costs of honey pro- 

 duction I have deemed this classification of 

 the bees the proper one. 



There is another very necessary explana- 

 tion in connection with these remarks on 

 cost of production, which is that the labor 

 charge given is only for the time actually 

 used in the work connected with one hun- 

 dred colonies; but it gives the per-colony 

 cost, which we must know. If a person is 

 making honey production his exclusive busi- 

 ness he must charge his whole year's time 

 against the cost unless he is engaged in some 

 other gainful occupation during the " off " 

 season of the year. While the big operator 

 has to charge a year's time to cost of pro- 

 duction, it is distributed over so many colo- 

 nies that the per-colony cost is not materi- 

 ally increased, and he has really less unpro- 

 ductive time during the active season to 

 charge to cost. 



The foregoing is submitted for your con- 

 sideration and criticism. I do not ask you 

 to agree with me unless you are satisfied 



